Naked
by PinkestPoodle
Summary: What makes Kate tick?Find out about her different sides and her feelings towards a certain guy...TATE!FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1

**Naked**(Definitely Tate)

Disclaimer: Own nothing. Earn nothing. Yada yada… NCIS belongs to whoever really owns them. I have no clue…I guess it's DPB…

A/N: I suffer some kind of writers block at the moment when it comes to DaN, plus somehow I have some problems with my website when I try to update my existing pages (Gahhh!), so I started something new that came into my mind. Of course it's Tate, but it's also a lot about what makes Kate tick –IMHO. There are lyrics of a

Avril Lavigne in it because I thought they fit…I hope that's okay (Disclaimer: The song does not belong to me either. I hate to do this. Disclaimer suck…LOL). Thanx to my good friend Timo for a certain poem that appears in the story, I'm happy to know you! Enjoy!

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I wake up in the morning  
Put on my face  
The one that's gonna get me  
Through another day  
Doesn't really matter  
How I feel inside  
'Cause life is like a game sometimes

"DiNozzo!" Kate gave her partner an annoyed look. "Stay away from my rucksack!"

Tony raised his hands "I just wanted to know what you've got for lunch, I don't think big boss is gonna let go of us." he pointed at the exploded train in the background.

Kate made a face. Tony stared at her for a moment until he understood and ducked, unfortunately too late. Gibbs had smacked him "I heard that, Tony." and was now on his way to the local police officer. "You have five minutes to eat something."

"Why does he never do that to you?" Tony complained.

Kate grinned "Because I make sure he doesn't stay behind me when I say something like that…Tony!" Kate grabbed for her rucksack.

"Oh, Kate! You cannot be that cold! I don't have anything for lunch."

"It will not harm you if you eat a little less, and, by the way, you certainly won't like my vegetarian cucumber baguette." Kate stated, biting into her baguette, still grinning.

"This is so you, Kate! You're so selfish and want-to-be-perfect with your diet and everything!" Tony growled, half serious and half amused.

Suddenly, the grin on Kate's face vanished. Her face showed no emotion when she turned around "That was not funny, DiNozzo."

"Hey!" Tony shouted after her "I wasn't serious, Kate!"

"Yes, you were!"

"No, I wasn't!"

"Shut the hell up, DiNozzo!" Kate screamed, slowly but surely losing it.

"Kate!"

Kate didn't answer. She bit on her lips and closed her eyes. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream at Tony, tell him that he didn't know the slightest bit about her. That he had no idea how much his words had hurt her. She quickly whipped away a tear and remembered back to a day when she was still at school.

"_Hey Danny, wait for me!" Kate hurried to reach her classmate. It was their PE lesson and their teacher had let them go back to school earlier because it was the last day before summer holidays._

"_I need to go to the supermarket, wanna join me?" Kate asked. It hadn't been too long since she had split up with the girls she usually spend time with, but since then, she had a lot more to do with her other classmates and began to trust a few of them. Though she remained careful – she hated the thought that someone might be able to hurt her._

"_Sure." Danny grinned._

_They went to the market, talking about the usual stuff like classmates and teachers. Then they somehow ended up talking about poems. _

"_There is a poem with a lot of truth in it…I found it not so long ago." Danny said._

"_Tell me." The two now didn't hurry anymore, they enjoyed their talk._

"_You see me laugh_

_But inside I cry_

_You ask me whether I'm fine_

_I say yes and lie_

_You say I can tell you everything_

_But a few minutes later everyone knows_

_You see how I close up_

_But you do not do anything_

_You look into my face_

_But you do not see my tears."_

_Kate stared at him. "Where…where is that from?"_

_He shrugged "I don't know."_

_They remained silent for some time. Kate knew Danny was someone that could be trusted. Somehow she just knew. They hadn't had to do too much with each other before, but Kate had the feeling that he might understand her._

"_I just fits. Somehow. How much do we allow other people to realize what we feel? How much do they want to realize?"_

_Danny looked at her in surprise. He knew Kate was not like most of the other girls. Sure, she was bitchy and girlish to a certain degree, but she never seemed to be the typical 16-year-old girl. She usually reacted very annoyed if the boys played the big macho men and didn't care the least what they thought about her. On the other hand, she was a member of the student council, one of the best students and everyone accepted her._

_He thought again. He had seen her almost in tears when some guys had teased her after she had been organizing something and it had gone wrong. He had seen her walk away from the other girls with a pale face, full of sadness and anger, suppressing tears when she had realized she had tried to be part of something she couldn't be part of. He had seen the hurt look on her face when the others called her "freak" because she refused to be like everyone else. Though she had smiled and not said anything about it, anyone who paid attention recognized she was either very quiet or quite bitchy for the next few hours. He suddenly realized Kate was a lot more sensible than she seemed._

_He smiled at her "I know what you mean. I hardly trust other people, too."_

_Kate smiled back "Yeah, it's always risky to trust. Trust can kill you."_

"_Or set you free."_

"_Yes, or set you free…until it kills you."_

"_Kate!" _

A sad smile appeared on Kate's face. No, nobody really knew her. What the hell was wrong with her? Why did she always have to make things this complicated? Why couldn't she trust people?

"Hey, DiNozzo. What have you done to her?" Gibbs asked when Tony joined him.

"I don't know. She somehow just…I don't know. I didn't mean to upset her." he shrugged.

Gibbs looked at him for a moment "Probably just in a bad mood. Women."

Shaking his head, Tony answered "I don't think so."


	2. Chapter 2

Thanx a lot for the reviews!

Okay, here we go with the second chapter!

Hope ya like it!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that English isn't my mother tongue, so please don't be too hard to me. My grammar still is not as good as I'd like it to be…;)

(Disclaimer: chapter 1)

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**But then you came around me  
The walls just disappeared  
Nothing to surround me  
And keep me from my fears  
I'm unprotected  
See how I've opened up  
Oh, you've made me trust**

Later that day, when Kate had finally gone home, she curled up on her sofa and thought about Tony. She often did. The difference was that she felt hurt and vulnerable this time.

Sure, Tony knew how to push her buttons, but he had never been really mean before. Kate knew that Tony hadn't been totally serious, but it hurt to hear things like that from him, nevertheless.

Closing her eyes, she thought about how much she had always enjoyed being with Tony. There had never been a reason to act. He had accepted her. She had even thought that he liked her – at least a little.

She sighed. There was no sense in thinking about it anymore. She had never been able to create long lasting relationships with men. She just hadn't trusted them. There were so many women around who were much prettier, funnier or more intelligent, so why should they stay with her? Kate knew it was stupid to think so. But somehow, she couldn't help it.

But she had trusted Tony. She was sure she had. Even though he was loud, childish and proud of having more women than he could count, she had trusted him. Until he had said she was selfish and want-to be-perfect. He couldn't have known, she told herself, she was more than just sensible when it came to personal things. She took it very personal when someone said she was bitchy or… want-to-be-perfect. Working hard and long was one thing, not being accepted for it and being teased about it another. Again, she thought back to a long passed day.

"_Hey Kate. There's a party on Friday at Emma's…" Susan, one of her friends, began._

_Kate made a face "So what?"_

"_Oh c'mon Kate. It's gonna be fun."_

"_You better go there with Mary and Eliza. I don't know if I can come. I have tons to do."_

"_Gee," Susan rolled her eyes "Why is it that always you do the whole work – no matter in which group you work."_

"_Because everybody else is busy with looking good and going to parties to be cool." Kate sarcastically answered, raising an eyebrow._

_Susan knew where this was going. Every time Kate wasn't going to tell her the truth about her reasons, she raised an eyebrow and said something about things that pissed her off generally._

_These things always were part of her reason, but never were the main point._

"_And" Kate continued "As you know, I don't like parties. At least not this kind of parties."_

_Susan sighed. Kate was a good friend. She always tried to help and defended her friends, she listened to them and secrets were safe with her – but she almost never told something really personal about herself. She didn't share her feelings with her friends- and that was what made her a little scary. Not to mention her habit to be very sarcastic, especially about herself. And that was exactly what Kate was about to do now._

"_I am neither blonde nor cool enough for that party."_

"_Emma likes you, she'd be upset if you didn't come."_

"_I don't like her enough. I mean, she's okay. She's a nice girl. But unfortunately with a lack of brain. I'm not in the mood to hear stories about her latest boyfriend, so just tell her I was terribly sorry, but I – unfortunately- had so much to do that it was impossible for me to come."_

_Susan was sure everyone except for her closest friends would buy that one. Kate was good at acting, and if she hadn't told her once that she liked to be alone on weekends, simply reading or having a walk through the forest, thinking about everything and nothing, Susan would still be thinking Kate was indeed doing a lot of work at weekend._

"_So what are you gonna do instead?" Susan asked._

"_Work."_

_Susan knew her friend was lying, but she also knew she wouldn't get any further if she told her that. Kate did do a lot work, but no one would work that much._

"_You know you don't have to pretend to be the perfect one, don't you? Nobody is perfect, Kate."_

_Glaring at Susan, Kate coldly answered "I'm NOT pretending to be perfect. I'm just doing what is necessary."_

"_See you on Monday. And, Kate, think about coming to the party again."_

Kate recognized that it had begun to rain. She listened to the rain for a while. She had always loved this weather. Though most people didn't like rain, she thought it had something peaceful. When it wasn't raining too much and it was autumn, it was great to have a walk, smelling the leafs and the trees. When it was really raining, it was very comfy and warm to lie on a sofa and relax, just listening to the rain, how it sounded at the windows.

Suddenly her phone rang. Kate needed a few seconds to realize it, because she had focused on the rain and everything else had seemed very far away. Slowly she stood up.

"Todd?"

"Hey Kate." sounded a familiar voice.

"Tony? What's the matter?"

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	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I´m really sorry it took me so long to continue, my computer stopped working and everything I had on it got lost. Now I can hardly write on my PC cuz my programs do not work too well anymore. I hope to post the next part soon, but at the moment chances are not so good. Unfortunately. Geez, I never thought I would miss my computer like this (  
Okay, here we go: 

Because I´ve never felt like this before

I´m naked Around you

Does it show?  
You see right trough me, and I canït hide

Im naked around you

And it feels so right

"I just wanted to know if you´re alright." Tony´s voice sounded, almost a little shy.

"Why shouldn´t I be?" Kate immediately snapped back.

"I dunno. I just... Look, I´m sorry about today, I didn´t mean to upset you."

"You phoned to tell me that?" Kate asked, not believing a word he said. Sure, she hoped he meant what he said, that he really cared . But she had to be realistic. After all, it was Tony this was all about. He didn´t mean to upset her. He hadn´t upset her. He had hurt her. This was ridiculous.

"Yeah!"

"Fine."

"Kate?"

"Huh?"

"Whats wrong with you?"

"Funny. That´s my fav question to you."

" Want to talk?" Tony asked. He had no idea what he had done to Kate earlier that day, but he somehow needed to find out. It was a funny thing about Kate. She was everything but the type of a girl he usually found attractive. Nevertheless, he cared more for her than for anyone else. Not that he would admit that.

"No."

"Okay, I´ll come around then."

"Tony I said no. And, by the way, you do not even know where I live."

"You want to bet?"

"No, again. And I also don´t want to know how you found out, Anthony."

"Would you like pizza or chinese?"

Kate sighed. She didn´t seem to get rid of Tony, so why not ruin the day a little bit more? "Chinese would be fine."

"Okay." He hung up.

Kate realized that she was smiling. No matter how annoying Tony could be: He was the one who could always make her smile. He was the one who could encourage her whe she didn´t know how to go on, he was the one who... Kate stopped herself from thinking about it. It wasn´t going to get her anywhere. Dreams and hopes where always something dangerous, especially when it was because she lo... liked someone. She knew that the closer she let someone get to her, the easier and sooner she would be disappointed and hurt by this person. It always happened. So why risk it again? Plus that this was about Tony - also known as the womanizer number one.

"Geez, now I finally thought it..." Kate smacked herself when she recognized she had practically admitted to herself how she felt about Tony. Though it was ridiculous, stupid, not logical,stupid, stupid and... just stupid!

Looking at herself, Kate decided to wear something a little more - she didn´t know what exactly she wanted to wear, but she knew for sure that it wasn´t her favourite boxer shorts and her "Breakfast at Tiffany´s" t-shirt, which was what she was wearing at the moment.

She made her way to her wardrobe.

"Gosh, Todd." she thought "I can´t believe you have such a lot of stuff and have no idea what to wear. Am I talking to myself? Yes, I am. Am I going crazy? I think so...oh my god."

Grabbing a jeans and a green shirt with a yellow rose on it, Kate was almost out of her bedroom when she turned around again. Was it a little chaotic in here? Definitely. Kate took skirts, blouses, trousers and everything else lying aroung and threw it into her wardrobe. Kate looked around. It still could look better. Then she realized what she was doing.  
"What the heck are you doing, Todd! He´s NEVER gonna see your bedroom! Gah! I´m talking to myself again."

The doorbell rang. Oh god. And she was still in boxer shorts and t-shirt.

"Hi Tony." Kate opened the door. "Can you give me a minute? I fell asleep."

Tony looked at her like an interrogation mark.

"I´m in boxer shorts and t-shirt."

"I don´t mind." Tony stated, grinning.

"I bet you don´t" Kate growled but let him in.

Tony still grinned and Kate felt that it was necessary to say something "Tony, you either stop grinning or I change my clothes! I doubt that you have never seen a woman in boxer shorts before."

"As long as you keep wearing those slippers..."

Shit. Kate blushed. Not looking at Tony, she asked "Have a problem with my beloved pink-bunny slippers, Dinozzo?"

"No. They´re cute... fits you perfectly."

Kate was happy she had already blushed. This was so not her. She NEVER blushed. She NEVER forgot to hide her slippers when someone visited her. Though it felt very good to hear Tony say nice things - even if it was about cute shoes that fit her.That meant he thought she was cute, too, didn´t it? - Tony was beginning to scare her.

"China food is getting cold." she said and took one of the hot boxes. " Let´s sit down somewhere."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() To()()()()()Be()()()()()Continued()()()()()Soon()()()()()()()()()()()()()


	4. Chapter 4

Naked

CHAPTER 4

Disclaimer: Look at chapter 1...

A/N: Finally! I got a new laptop and so I´m able to continue writing … Hope you guys still want to read this story… Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate it (though you guys make my story better than it is, it feels good to know you like it)!

Enjoy

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_**I'm trying to remember  
Why I was afraid  
To be myself  
And let the covers fall away  
Guess I never had someone like you  
To help me fit in my skin**_

Kate and Tony sat on Kate´s sofa in silence, eating their Chinese food, giving each other looks from time to time.

„Don´t you want to tell me what´s bothering you?" Tony broke the silence after he cleared his throat.

„Nah, not really."

„Why is that?"

Kate sighed. She was _sure_ this wouldn´t have any effect on anything at all. Honestly, what did he expect? That she told him about all her fears that people didn´t respect her for what she was and what she did? He had certainly been one of those boys every girl wanted, one of those who always had an arrogant way to show how good they were - one of those who Kate had hated and secretly fancied, just like any other girl.

She decided to be as honest as possible, as he seemed to care at least a little bit. „You´d better not tell him, Todd, telling personal things always backfires." she thought before she banned those thoughts and asked:

„What do you expect from me, Tony?"

Tony shrugged „I don´t know. It´s up to you to talk to me. But, Kate, to be honest I worried about you after what happened today. I never intended to hurt you in any way, so I would be happy if you talked to me. See, we´ve known each other for two years now, and though serious talks between us almost never happen I thought you´d trust me enough to tell me what makes you sad." He stopped for a moment „People say it sometimes helps."

Kate just stared at him. She hadn´t expected him to care that much - sure, she sometimes wished that it was that way, but she knew chances were as high as winning a million dollars in a phone-in programme.

„I…I don´t know Tony, it´s not that I don´t trust you, it´s more my habit to keep personal things to myself." she finally managed to say.

„Not a healthy habit."

„That depends."

Nobody spoke for a few minute, then Kate turned to Tony, looking him straight into the eyes

„Promise you will neither tell anyone what I am about to tell you nor use it against me?"

„Yes."

„Alright…So…I don´t know where to start. It´s practically half my life." Confused, Kate shook her head. She hadn´t seen this coming and wasn´t prepared at all.

„I think the first thing you need to know is that high school wasn´t exactly the best time of my life. There are people who will tell you something different, but for me, it was hell." Kate said and remembered the many days she had come home and wished to be far far away. Not because of learning but because of the people around her.

„What was the matter?" Tony asked

„Well, I sometimes don´t know myself. I mean, my younger sister would probably tell you about me being in the student council, getting good grades , being known and liked by most of the pupils and stuff like that."

„Doesn´t sound like you were the idiot of the class or something."

„No it doesn´t. I don´t know if you know that my parents are divorced and I have quite a bunch of siblings. I lived with my mom and my younger brother always was kind of her favourite. I used to be daddy´s girl and the typical eldest child of my mom. I … I don´t really know how to explain it, but I was always the one getting involved the most at school, bringing home the best grades and so on, and hardly got any praise for it."

„Didn´t you get the attention you wanted? I mean, being in the student council usually is…"

„Yeah." Kate cut Tony off „I was popular. But I didn´t want to be popular. All I ever wanted was to be respected for the things I did. Everytime I did something good someone came up with something I messed up. I.. It hurt every time. I tried to be caring, sincere, responsive… I worked so hard not only because I liked the work I did but also because I wanted the respect and the praise I didn´t get at home.

I even helped the people that talked behind my back to pass their exams."

„Sounds like work." Tony said and thought that this might be the reason why Kate always reacted so pissed when someone didn´t take her serious.

„It was work. And I kinda liked it. I just couldn´t hate people and I think that was my mistake. I never wanted to hurt anybody because I knew how it felt to be hurt. The story behind that is, that I used to have a few girls I called best friends once. I never used to be a party animal or someone that enjoyed hours of talk about drinking and boys. I told them a few times and finally, we broke apart. They said it was my fault and that I didn´t care about them. That was something that really hurt. I always cared for them but not in the way of listening to every crap. And I still was confident enough that I didn´t want to change who I was… But then, when we finally had managed to build something you could call acceptance , we went on a class trip and my class had a fight. Well, it was my class against my ex best friends. I felt very uncomfortable and didn´t want to get involved in that, but of course I did.

Anyways, I ended up going upstairs crying. I went to one of them who had gone upstairs a few minutes ago and had also cried when she left. I wanted to talk to her… and she called me a liar, a want-to-be-perfect girl that lied when opening the mouth to speak, someone who was only with her now because she had nothing better to do.

That hit me hard and that isn´t all that happenend, but I´ll stop here before you fall asleep…I´m just not made for things as friendship. I can try as hard as I want, I always screw it up."

Tony had listened carefully to the words Kate had said. She had been getting more and more silent during the story and was now shyly whipping away a tear. Gosh, he thought, he had always known Kate was very sensitive, but he had had no idea that she was that sensitive. Now he understood her allergic reaction towards his comment. It reminded her of trying to be a good friend - trying to be good in general- and not being accepted and respected for it. All she had gotten from the people around her was responsibility for things that had gone wrong and ironic comments about her will to reach her aims.

Tony could imagine Kate trying to explain something about a competition the school was taking part in to her class, and her class not paying attention at all. He saw Kate finally giving up, suppressing anger and trying to ignore the people that were laughing and giving her ha-you-can´t-do-it looks. He saw her sitting down on her bed, hugging herself and thinking about the reasons why people didn´t respect her and what she had done wrong.

Looking at Kate again, he realized that she was crying.

She tried to smile „Sorry."

Tony didn´t say anything . He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer until she almost sat on his lap. Surprised, he realized how much it hurt him to see her cry and suffer like this.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Naked**

**Chapter 5**

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! They really encourage me to write though I know my English is still quite poor. I´m sure there are grammar mistakes that are nothing but annoying for you guys to read ;-)… I´ll stop babbling now and finish the story shutting up

_**Cuz I've never felt like this before  
I'm naked around you  
Does it show?  
You see right through me  
And I can't hide  
I'm naked around you  
And it feels so right**_

"Hey…" Tony tried, feeling a little helpless with the crying Kate in his arms.

"Sorry, I… don´t know…I…" Kate said, slowly realizing how close she was to sitting on Tony´s lap. Confused, she looked at him.

Their eyes finally met.

After a few seconds, Kate looked away. "You certainly think I´m stupid." She whispered.

Tony didn´t like the sad look on Kate´s face, and made a try to cheer her up. "Well, you´re wearing a "Breakfast at Tiffany´s " t-shirt…" was the first thing that came into his mind. The second the said it and recognized Kate´s hurt look, he mentally slapped himself.

"Are you making fun of me, DiNozzo?" , she snapped, trying not to seem hurt.

"I´m sorry Kate." Tony quickly apologized. "I just wanted to make you smile."

"Who the hell would believe…" she started aggressively, but then suddenly stopped. She gave Tony a shy and questioning look "Are you serious?"

"I am."

"Are you positive?"

"Yeah."

Kate seemed to think about something. Then she snuggled back into Tony´s arms and he happily kissed her on the forehead.

"What are we doing, Tony?"

"I don´t know."

"Neither do I."

"But it feels good, doesn´t it?"

"It does, indeed."

With that, Kate closed her eyes, feeling a happiness she could neither describe nor explain.

**THE END**

I know this was rather short… I might write a sequel, but that depends on how much time and how many ideas I have.

Hope ya liked it!


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